KOLKATA: After months of legal tussles, Netflix has finally released its controversial docu-series Bad Boy Billionaires: India, although with only three episodes.
The Netflix original that dives deep into the stories of India’s most infamous billionaires – liquor mogul Vijay Mallya, fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, and Satyam Computer Services founder B Ramalinga Raju – got embroiled in litigation due to its provocative content.
“This investigative docu-series explores the greed, fraud, and corruption that built up — and ultimately brought down — India’s most infamous tycoons,” Netflix said in the show's synopsis.
The series was originally scheduled to release last month but was delayed following an order from a district court in Bihar, where the Sahara group argued that the show would damage Roy's reputation. According to reports, the injunction was lifted last Saturday.
Currently, episodes based on Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Subrata Roy are streaming. The digital platform, however, held back the episode on B Ramalinga Raju and his Rs 71.36 billion embezzlement scam. Raju and Gitanjali Group owner Mehul Choksi, whose name appears in the series, had also approached courts seeking a stay on the docu-series, claiming that it would affect their trials.
Given the fact that Raju’s case is presently pending in Hyderabad court, it can be said that Netflix wisely chose not to release the episode on him till it gets the legal clean chit.